Mikhail Grigorenko is staying in the NHL. Now, the Buffalo Sabres have to figure out what to do with their 18-year-old center.

Rather than head back to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Grigorenko will stick with the Sabres for the duration of the season, GM Darcy Regier announced on Tuesday afternoon. When Grigorenko plays in his sixth game of the season on Tuesday night, he'll officially have used the first-year of his entry-level contract. If he returned to the Quebec Remparts on, say, Tuesday morning, that wouldn't have been the case.

The Montreal Canadiens made the same call with No. 3 overall pick Alex Galchenkyuk on Tuesday. Several other prospects—Minnesota's Matthew Dumba and Philadelphia's Scott Laughton among them—have already returned to their CHL teams.

Regier stressed that Grigorenko's strong play with the Remparts and for Russia at the World Junior Championship played a part in the decison, as did his ability to both continue his development and help Buffalo win games. Buffalo's lack of top-six centers didn't hurt—there should be opportunities for Grigorenko to play big minutes with talented players.

In short, he's talented enough to help immediately, and the Sabres are impressed with his work ethic, so the move should pay off—if he gets the minutes he needs to accomplish Buffalo's two stated priorities.

"It's not something we would've traditionally done. It speaks to where we think he is (and) his game is," Regier told reporters.

Regier added that, in this case, the NHL lockout actually helped: "We have an additional three or four months of development that we otherwise wouldn't have with the longer season."

Grigorenko played his best game of the season on Sunday against the Washington Capitals, which came a few days after he got just 6:48 of ice time along the fourth line against the Carolina Hurricanes. Coach Lindy Ruff said that wasn't necessarily because of his play, and more an effort to match physical players against the Hurricanes' top line. On Sunday, he was taking regular shifts and involved in several scoring chances.

In all likelihood, that's how things will shake out the rest of the season for Grigorenko. Some nights, he simply won't play that much, based largely on matchups. But make no mistake—he's in the NHL because it's the best move for everyone involved.